Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis, January 16, 2023 [Ministry of Health]: The Ministry of Health and the Joseph N France General Hospital Executive Management Committee would like to announce some critical changes to be enacted immediately to ensure the continued improvement of quality patient care to the citizens of St. Kitts and Nevis.

The Blood Bank of the JNF Hospital will be accepting blood donations from suitable donors during the regular working hours of 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. However, the hospital wishes to inform the public that in cases of emergency, no suitable donor would be rejected at any time.

The Ministry of Health would also like to announce the commencing of a series of outreach activities to increase the national blood donor pool and the reactivation of the national blood donor registry to prevent the frequent shortages of blood products nationally. All healthy-bodied persons in the nation who are willing to donate blood are encouraged to register as donors and donate twice a year to assist us in having a constant supply of blood products available.

We wish to further announce that going forward, all persons who are scheduled to do elective surgical procedures at the JNF hospital that are deemed to be procedures with a large expected blood loss, will now be asked to provide suitable blood donors at least three days prior to the procedure. This will help to allow the hospital’s other blood donation reserves to be used for emergencies only.

Plans are on the way to outfit the Pogson Hospital in Sandy Point, and also the Mary Charles Hospital in Molyneux with small, functional laboratories to be used for emergency tests and basic blood and urine tests. The outfitting of these facilities would help to decrease the overall burden on the government lab facilities at JNF and allow the medical technology staff to focus on the more severe cases at our main hospital.

The JNF Executive Management Committee would like to thank the general public for their encouragement and words of advice as we work together to improve our healthcare delivery. Remember, the health of our nation is the wealth of our nation, and together, we can all ensure to see advances in our nation’s healthcare.